off a fresh batch of men to make inquiries. A quarter
of an hour ago one of them came back with the news that he had learned
from a sailor that he had noticed a dark colored foreigner, whom he took
to be a Lascar sailor, talking to a boatman, and that they had rowed off
together to a barge anchored a short way out; he did not notice anything
more about him.

"Now, I should not be at all surprised if the fellow went off to arrange
with the bargeman for a passage for himself and four or five comrades to
some port or other, it might be anywhere. It would make no difference to
them where the barge was bound for. No doubt he saw the man again after
the brig was sighted, and told him that they should come on board soon
after it got dark, and told him to have the boat at the stairs. You
see, in that case they might not have carried Mr. Thorndyke above fifty
yards. They would probably get him on board as one of their party who
had been drunk. The barge, no doubt, got under way about nine o'clock,
which is the hour when the tide was high last night, and during the
night the Indians could easily drop your friend overboard--and may
even have done so before they got under way, which would have been the
easiest thing to do. There would have been no one at the helm, and they
could have chosen a moment when the crew, probably only three, were
below. I am afraid that this is not a cheering lookout, but I have
little doubt that it is the correct one.

"I have told my men to find out what barge was lying at the spot the
sailor pointed out, and if we discover her name, which we are likely to
be able to do, there will be no difficulty in finding out to whom she
belongs and where she was bound for. Then we can follow it up; though
there is little likelihood of our finding the murderers still on board."

"Thank you very much for the pains that you are taking, sir," Dick said.
"I am afraid that there is no shadow of hope of finding my poor friend
alive. I have no doubt that the thing has happened exactly as you
suggest; the whole course of the affair shows how carefully it was
planned, and I have no hope that any scruple about taking life would be
felt by them for a moment. I will go back to the hotel, and I shall be
obliged if you will let me know as soon as you obtain any clew as to the
barge."

An hour and a half later the officer himself came round to the room
where Dick Chetwynd and the two pugilists were sitting. The detectives
had